'Day the Music Died' features Home Free performance, Walters woman's photos

Sep. 1—MANKATO — Two rock-and-roll lovers connected to the region contributed to a 90-minute documentary now available on a popular streaming service.

Mankato native Adam Rupp and his band are among musicians who perform in "The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean's 'American Pie.'" Rupp's a cappella group, Home Free, was chosen by songwriter McLean for a rendition of the film's namesake number.

McLean's 1971 hit not only references the deaths of the late greats Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson, but his lyrics include lines alluding to rock stars who reigned in the 1960s and 1970s as well as the turbulent times the country faced then.

The film also uses reproductions of Mary Gerber's black-and-white still photographs of Holly's final performance at the Clear Lake, Iowa, dance hall 63 years ago. The 79-year-old Walters woman was 16 when she used her little Kodak camera on Feb. 2, 1959, to snap what are believed to be the last images ever taken of Holly.

"We have some of Mary's still shots on display here," said Laurie Lietz, executive director of the Surf Ballroom and Museum.

The documentary that was released in July includes scenes filmed at The Surf at various times.

"Their footage here was collected over the course of an entire year," Lietz said.

McLean had been scheduled to play at The Surf's 2021 annual Winter Dance Party to mark the 50th anniversary of "The Day the Music Died."

"That didn't happen," Lietz said, explaining that her venue was temporarily closed during the early months of the pandemic.

McLean did attend the 2022 event, she said. Publicity from the documentary has probably added to The Surf's longtime role as a go-to destination for music fans.

"There's certainly been an influx of (concert-goers) since July," she said.

Home Free is slated to play Thursday at The Surf. On Wednesday morning some tickets for the show remained available for sale, Lietz said.

She added that she'd not yet seen the group's playlist.

Rupp and his bandmates likely will perform "The Day the Music Died." They may also sing numbers that had been performed in 1959 on the venue's stage.

Holly, Valens and Richards had sung at The Surf a few hours before they and their young pilot were killed. The plane crashed in a snowy cornfield a few miles from the dance hall. The three musicians had been members of a Winter Party touring group that included The Belmonts.

Gerber's photographs of the 1959 concert include a candid shot of the vocal trio's lead singer, Dion, who was on a break when he took a minute to pose for her.

Reprints of the images created by the Faribault County woman that fateful night have been published in Rolling Stone and are displayed at a museum in Holly's hometown, but she's never had a career as a photographer.

She's returned to The Surf for several Winter Party anniversary concerts.

"It's been three or four years now. We didn't go because of COVID, and last year I couldn't get tickets," Gerber said.

Her unsuccessful attempts at getting tickets to Feb. 3, 2021, sold-out show had included reaching out to two filmmakers who had purchased her Surf Ballroom photos, Sevan Garabedian, of Montreal, and James McCool, of Wisconsin.

"I haven't talked to Jim since," Gerber said.

She was unaware of the recent documentary whose makers gained copyright permission to use reprints of her photos.

McLean had enlisted music producer and songwriter Spencer Proffer, CEO of media production company Meteor 17, to make the documentary, according to a Paramount+ webpage describing the documentary.

The film uses contemporary audio/visual storytelling techniques to artistically reimagine the more than 8-minute-long song McLean wrote at a time when the nation was in the midst of assassinations, anti-war protests and civil rights marches.

Gerber's love for music continues, and sometimes rock-and-roll is used as a remedy for today's stresses.

"I still have my old '50s days when I get out all my old records and play them," Gerber said.